In every office, school and home, computer users want tools which save time and effort. Printers have increased in speed and clarity of print. Networked computers may not be in the same location as the printer that serves them. Consequently, the user must rely on a printer that may not be convenient to watch as it prints. If the printer is printing on fanfold paper, there is the possibility, indeed, the inevitability of paper failing to fold along the perforations as intended. When such a printer is not being watched, the results can be a stack of paper where much of it is folded the wrong way or where portions are bent. The time to refold fanfold paper that has not stacked as it should is wasted time.
The use of fan-folded continuous paper is well known for its ability to allow fast printing while minimizing its handling upon discharge from a printer. Continuous fan folded paper helps increase the time between adding paper to the printer since a large box of continuous fan folded paper can feed to a printer and the use of a continuous web decreases handling of documents. The term fan folded continuous paper refers to a continuous web of paper with regularly spaced perforated sheets such that the web may be put into a neat stack by folding it along the perforated lines. Although fan-folded continuous paper normally comes in standard 81/2 by 11 inches, other forms are routinely of shorter length.
Although using continuous fan folded paper decreases output handling, assistance is still required to limit stacking failures. Ideally, continuous fan folder paper may be used by a user or group of users to print several different documents while the output of the printer stacks the paper upon discharge. At a time of the user's choosing, he may pick up his document from a stack and separate his document by tearing the sheets that he wants from those remaining.
Several attempts have been made to recreate the neat stack of continuous fan-folded paper upon discharge from a printer. Printer operators have resorted to manually refolding the first few sheets in hopes that the subsequent sheets will continue in a neat stack. Moreover, apparatuses have been designed to collect and stack the paper upon discharge from the printer. However, none of the present devices for stacking continuous fan folded paper allow for both standard and short forms in a single device. There exists a need for an adjustable apparatus which does not require operator assistance and may stack different length forms.